This invention relates to radio telephone systems, and more particularly, to a telephone system wherein, when a call is made to a radio telephone, under certain conditions, the call automatically terminates to a voice mail.
Radio telephones, such as cell phones often ring at inopportune times. For example, when a person is in a meeting, the person""s cell phone may ring. Moreover, the phone may ring when the person is asleep. While it is a known practice to set a cell phone to a vibrating mode, it is not very convenient under certain circumstances. For example, one can set the phone to vibrating mode, accidentally leave the phone on a desk, and never feel or receive the vibration intended to alert to an incoming call. In otter words, the user may never xe2x80x9cfeel the phone ringing.xe2x80x9d The utilitarian and aesthetic value of radio telephones are increasing among users. Some users wear radio telephones, and especially cell phones, to the same extent they wear watches. More users are likely to wear radio telephones at all times including times when they are asleep.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,704 entitled xe2x80x9cShoulder Holster and Method of Carrying a Portable Telephone Near the Body of a User,xe2x80x9d describes a shoulder holster, and method of carrying a telephone near the body of a user for storage of and ready access to the telephone by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,643 entitled xe2x80x9cHand-held Radiotelephone having Two-part Construction,xe2x80x9d describes a hand-held radio telephone whose earpiece and/or microphone are spatially separated from the other components of the radio telephone U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,181 entitled xe2x80x9cArm or Wrist Mounted Terminal With a Flexible Housing,xe2x80x9d describes a hand-held body for receiving, storing and transmitting information having a keyboard in the top thereof for manually entering information therein. U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,114 entitled xe2x80x9cRadiotelephone Enabling Adjustment of Alerting Indicator Volume/Level During Incoming Calls,xe2x80x9d describes a method for varying the level of an alerting indicator of a radio telephone while an incoming call is being received. U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,922 entitled xe2x80x9cUser Authentication in a Communication System Utilizing Biometric Information,xe2x80x9d describes a method and apparatus for authenticating subscriber units and users in a communications system including a communications node that receives biometric information describing a user, and measures a RF signature of the subscriber unit. U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,418, entitled xe2x80x9cPersonal Communicator Including a Handset Phone wilt an Integrated Virtual Image Display,xe2x80x9d describes a wireless handset phone, a virtual image display coupled to the wireless handset phone, and a pointing device for pointing on the virtual image display.
What is needed beyond the prior art is an apparatus and method, which eliminates, or at least reduces inopportune ringing of radio telephones. It is especially desirous to reduce rings when an incoming call is destined for a user who is asleep, while at the same time maintaining the utilitarian value of the incoming call.
A radio telephone that automatically terminates an incoming call to a voice mail is disclosed comprising a transceiver for receiving the incoming call, and a sensor coupled to the transceiver producing a set of parameters related to a user in close proximity to the radio telephone, whereby, the incoming call is automatically terminated to the voice mail upon a determination that a subset of the set of parameters is within a range. A method for automatically terminating an incoming call that is designated for a radio telephone to a voice mail is described. The method includes providing a set of sensor input information, receiving an incoming call, obtaining at least part of the set of sensor input information, determining a set of parameters related to the set of sensor input information, and terminating the incoming call to a voice mail system upon a determination that the set of parameters is within a predetermined range.